Art

Painting of two lobster fishermen in a dory, with sails set. The dory is sloop- rigged with a sprit mainsail, a typical inshore fishing dory of Maine and Massachsetts. The boat may have encountered a storm, tearing the sails, but the torn sail is more likely artistic license, or just an old one on its last legs. Both fishermen are wearing oilskin trousers to stay dry while hauling traps. There is a lobster pot in the boat and a small anchor in the bow.

The artist does not show up in any of the regular sources so may have been a talented amateur.

Billet head carved by Thomas Seavey of Bangor, Maine. Dimensions: 24"x18"x21" including mounting board. Carved but never used on a vessel, something readily seen by the sharpness of the carving and lack of paint buildup.

Billet heads were located under a vessel's bowsprit like figureheads, but being simpler and much less expensive would have been found on smaller vessels like coastal schooners and fishing vessels.

Oil on canvas, signed C.J. Waldron, 1873. The Moonbeam was built in Searsport in 1859 by William McGilvery. Amos Dow was master from 1859 to 1867. Her rig was changed to schooner in1891; she foundered off Point Judith in 1905.

A photograph of a watercolor by Louis Roux. The photo notes that the painting is owned by Amos Nichols. The bark Herbert Black was built in 1873 in Searsport by Marlboro Packard and stranded in Preston, England in 1919.

In 1895, Defender was built at the Herreshoff Company in Bristol, Rhode Island and successfully defended the America's Cup, with a crew from Deer Isle, Maine. Defender was radical, having a bronze bottom and aluminum topsides, creating a floating battery, which dissolved aluminum. She was dismantled in 1901, but was functional long enough to challenge the new Columbia in 1899 to become the Cup defender.

Billet head in the form of a small scroll. About two feet long (or tall as it is shown here.) This carving has only the scroll carved in three dimensions; the rest is incised. The groove in the edge mates to the vessel's stem.